The Popular Front

I'm Orf

2007-03-16T12:14:00.000+02:00

As I will be taking a trip back to the UK from next week onwards and have a couple of other blogs projects on the go I have decided to give this one a rest till i get back. Thanks for reading!

Back in Cape Town in June!

shopping 2.0

2007-01-19T08:35:00.000+02:00

This from the ever fabulous fashion.psfk:

Interactive services firm IconNicholson has created a new type of in-store experience that combines social networking and shopping, known as Social Retailing.
Demonstrated at the National Retail Federation conference earlier this week, the Social Retailing technology uses a three-paneled "magic mirror" in-store that can send photos or videos of shoppers in outfit options to their MySpace page or to friend's emails and mobiles for instant opinions. Friends 'yes' or 'no' votes are then visible on the mirror itself. The interactive technology also allows customers to see what others have purchased, view similar options that are not in stock in the store, check out using MasterCard SecureCode and have their orders delivered to their home.

FNB need to go back to CRM school

2006-12-18T18:20:00.000+02:00

There have been a couple of contenders for my "schmuck of the day" award but today's goes to First National Bank. For a giggle I thought rather than face a trek over to one of their branches i'd try out there option to email a question about my account. I have to admit I had few illusions of a coherent response. This is what happened: today they finally get back to me (I sent the request early last week) with this:

"Dear Daniel
Thank you for sending your email to FNB. I do apologise for the delay in responding to your request. Your query was sent to First Online in error and they are experiencing a hugh a backlog.
Please contact your FNB branch and a consultant will be able to assist you."

Hugh's backlog aside what's the frickin point of online assistance if its going to direct you to a branch..?

Someone is missing the point of this whole internet thingie over at FNB towers... are they head hunting Home Affairs staff or sumthin. Schmucks!

Merry xmas.

"You" are the person of the year

2006-12-18T07:52:00.000+02:00

Via the beeb:

Ever wondered what you had in common with Hitler and Ayatollah Khomeini? You've all won the Time magazine's person of the year award.

"You" have been named as Time magazine's Person of the Year for the growth and influence of user-generated content on the internet. The US magazine praised the public for "seizing the reins of the global media" and filling the web's virtual world. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, his wife Melinda and rock star Bono won the accolade last year and recent winners also include President George W Bush in 2004, and "The American Soldier" in 2003.

The magazine said naming a collectivity rather than an individual reflected the way the internet was shifting the balance of power within the media through blogs, videos and social networks.
Time cited websites such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia, which allow users to interact with the web by uploading and publishing their own comments, videos, pictures and links.
"It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes," Time magazine's Lev Grossman writes.
Time praised the tool that made such broad collaboration possible - the web. "It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter," Mr Grossman said. Previous winners have often sparked controversy - including Adolf Hitler in 1938 and, in 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini."

Cape Town pipe dreams

2006-12-18T07:42:00.000+02:00

IOL technology tease us with the following story:

"Cape Town residents can expect improved service delivery and cheaper access to Internet and telephone services by 2010 because the city plans to spend a whopping R400-million on its own broadband network.
By so doing, it will avoid huge costs to monopoly telecommunications provider Telkom. It will also be able to earn money off its own network by offering these services to the private sector.
It could save as much as R40-million in the first year in telecommunications costs to Telkom and cellphone providers while earning more than R12-million in its first two years of operation by selling access to its network.
The city spends more than R100-million a year on telecommunications services - 70 percent of it for voice and data communications.
Chairman of the council's portfolio committee on corporate services Stuart Pringle says that at least R30-million is spent on internal calls alone.
The city council unanimously agreed last Thursday, December 7, that, despite the huge costs, it would be well worth the benefits to residents. The city would be able to read water meters remotely, determine when a street light is about to fail, make patient information accessible in any clinic and process service delivery requests on behalf of other departments.
The city would be able to connect more than 220 public facilities including libraries, clinics and administrative buildings. Its benefits for the 2010 soccer World Cup would also be extensive.
The city will enter an initial planning phase, expected to cost R18-million, next month."

Prada Signs Up for Mobile Phone with LG Electronics

2006-12-17T12:29:00.000+02:00

via (FWD)

"Prada has signed an agreement with Korean giant LG Electronics to develop an iconic mobile phone. The Italian brand is planning an advanced touch interface, which eliminates the conventional keypad, in a novel co-branding exercise. Prada’s goal is to “combine high-end technology with avant-garde design offering the best in both style and performance,” the Italian house said in a release.

Consumers will first be able to get their hands on the Prada phone in early 2007, with distribution rolling out across in Europe through Italy, UK, France, and Germany, followed by countries in Asia such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Ironically, the Korean version won’t launch until the second quarter of 2007."

Graffiti cleans up its act

2006-12-12T12:43:00.000+02:00

Next time you see a teenager armed with a sponge and a bottle of washing up liquid he is probably up to no good...

via PSFK:

"Over the past few months, we've picked up on several artists engaging in ‘reverse graffiti.’ Also known as ‘clean tagging’ or ‘grime writing,’ the artist simply cleans off the dirt and soot from a wall to make the original surface stand out. This method has also been implemented on walls covered with paper flyers, where the intended word or image is scraped off.
British artist Paul Curtis has pushed this new style into the public eye and brings up a great point regarding the seemingly universal distain for street art:
Cleaning without a permit? “Once you do this,” he says, “you make people confront whether or not they like people cleaning walls or if they really have a problem with personal expression.”
New York Times: Reverse Graffiti

Schleb stink

2006-12-12T12:20:00.000+02:00

This from Fashion Wire Daily, a worrying new(ish) trend of dubious global celebs putting out a fragrance. I mean do you really want to smell like Shania (frickin) Twain?!?! I love Gwen Steffani, as any sane human being must. I mean to get away with what she does in her late thirties is a total coup (you'll have to watch her recent videos). Not sure i'll be wearing Gwen next fall myself though but she'll make a killing (no doubt). I'll hold out for the Eagles of Death Metal to make one maybe.

"Yesterday Coty Inc. announced a new global licensing agreement with punk pop princess/designer, Gwen Stefani, to launch a line of fragrances for her fashion brand, L.A.M.B. The first fragrance, which has yet to be named, is slated to debut in Fall 2007. Coty, who has licensing deals with other singers like Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, David and Victoria Beckham and Shania Twain, has also brought a taste of many designer names to the masses in affordable fragrance form. Coty's designer fragrance licenses include Calvin Klein, Cerruti, Chloé, Jil Sander, JOOP!, Kenneth Cole, Marc Jacobs, Pierre Cardin, Vera Wang and Vivienne Westwood. Coty said they plan to work closely with Stefani to develop every aspect of the fragrance – from the packaging to the ingredients in the scent. "

Fashion predictions for 2007

2006-12-08T15:18:00.000+02:00

Curious as to what you'll be wearing next year? According to Infomat it's gonna be: gothy, houndstooth mixed with plaid and block wallpaper prints sprinkled with 50's Jackie O style and starlet frocks. Glad I could clear that up for you. Check their predictions in more detail here. I have it on good authority from a more local source that lederhosen maybe back in a big way. No really.

Fashion Baggage

2006-12-08T07:26:00.000+02:00

"Fashion baggage", hmm might make a great title for my long planned, semi-fictional, account of working in fashion pr. Anyway this is really about a link-up between dull suitcase brand Samsonite and brit designer Matthew Williamson. I'm a sucker for this kind of marketing idea myself. (this via coolhunting):

Launched earlier this year, the limited edition version of the Signat Attaché Case, a collaboration between Samsonite Black Label and British fashion designer Matthew Williamson, is finally available online just in time for gift giving. Also re-released in orange, yellow and pink (see images here), the effort celebrates Samsonite's classic 1960's Signat Attaché Case. For the limited edition version, Williamson accented the cream exterior with a silver and flourescent pink leather sleeve for over the shoulder carrying. The interiors follow the same color scheme mixing pastel colors with fluorescent pink for contrast and combines two prints, one floral and one geometric. Both patterns were designed by Williamson and were featured in his Fall/Winter 06/07 apparel collection. Featuring an organized divider, an interior cosmetics pouch and a key charm, the limited edition bags (only 250 will be sold) are available online from Samsonite for $360.

Dazed online

2006-12-07T08:16:00.000+02:00

Speaking of hipster magazines. Also pleased to see Dazed & Confused is still around. What's more they've embraced the innernet revolution and done an online version. Lots of stuff to look at, listen to and feel hip about. Listening to their playlist right now. Not the Gulag Orkestar by any stretch but it'll get me through my morning email browse.

CDs are dead. Official!*

2006-12-07T07:47:00.000+02:00

Great, I no longer need to jostle with teenagers clutching nu-metal cds in the Musica Megastore. Instead I can go and get a digital download from Rough Trade (awesome London record store) or Juno. I mean its not like I can get Beruit's wonderful Gulag Orkestar in the V&A. SA music stores with pathetically outdated and unimaginative stock take note (that's all of you) your days are numbered. Word!

Congo fashion gangs!

2006-12-06T09:15:00.000+02:00

Lots of US papers (and a couple of SA ones) seem to have picked up the story on Congolese fashionistas obsessing over luxury labels. Crazy huh, you'd think with having Ebola, being attacked by killer Giraffes, all the volcano's and tribal warfare they'd have time to go shopping. Apparently it's not just as simple as pulling on a pair of Gucci loafers you have to belong to a "sape" gang or something and have fashion face offs with rival gangs. "It's Zoolander meets West Side Story, where the gangs sport labels but not knives," says the breathless Houston chronicle. Right.

Local hipster mag still around!

2006-12-06T08:59:00.000+02:00

The new One Small Seed is out and looks amazing. Personally I believe you can't call yourself a country unless you have your very own fashionista hipster mag. They've also managed to last a year - which in magazine years is about, like, 80s years or something. Still I think we can't be satisfied till we get a local Vice magazine... which is officially* the best mag in the whole frickin world. If New Zealand can have one I don't see why we can't dammit.

*according to us

What yanks want from magazine sites

2006-12-06T08:53:00.000+02:00

From PSFK, latest US stats on what users want from magazine sites. No SA stats on the subject that I can find as yet.

Speaking of Japanese kids...

2006-12-04T07:53:00.000+02:00

via Trendcentral:

QR Codes: Appearing as a jumble of black and white squares similar to a barcode, QR codes for Web addresses are now found everywhere in Japan. Users scan the codes with mobile phones’ infrared data transfer beams to connect to the site through the phone’s internal browser. Originally found on street corners where the codes served as an entertainment guide for the respective area linking users to everything from reviews of local restaurants to listings for movies, mosaics can now be found everywhere from magazines and posters to stickers and packaging and link to a variety of topics such as horoscopes, weather, and fashion news.

Back from Myspace re-hab

2006-12-04T07:30:00.000+02:00

Had to go spend a couple of days away from the world to get over a myspace addiction. After some early morning ice baths and penguin-stroking therapy I think I'm there. In the end it may have been Dr Schwartz telling me that I was probably the oldest person on the damn thing and I should pull myself together, what finally broke it's evil spell. Now I see it for the devil cult it is - warn your children! Gonna hang out with people my own age on Blogger in future. By Paris, like Lindsay Lohan says, you're actually just a cheap drunken lush and not a great friend after-all (she didn't reply to one damn comment). ps: one final thought - you realise it is actually someone's job to manage her myspace site! In fact its probably a whole team of perfectly dressed japanese girls in a bunker somewhere.

South Africans enjoy getting social

2006-11-23T12:40:00.000+02:00

Online ad agency Acceleration point out what a great opportunity social networking sites are for SA brands as ads can be geo-targetted (sounds kind of James Bondish... cool). Good point. Personally I love Myspace. It's like starting school all over again and having a whole playground of people to make friends with. Of course, as in the playground, you can also lose friends damn quickly (as I discovered when on day two I deleted all my friends by accident...oops). The only South African's however so far that have joined my online posse are the Real Estate Agents. Thanks for the add*. Also worth visiting is Mika (have been singing Take It Easy ever since I heard it - listen I frickin dare you to disagree) and the alter-ego of one of my Hoxtonite friends Bad Lover (check the splendid video out).

*Myspace speak, get with it

ShowStudio

2006-11-19T22:09:00.000+02:00

ShowStudio is the blog/online gallery/digital work book of UK based fashion photographer/visionary Nick Knight. Worth popping in to check out the mix of leftfield and high fashion pics and projects if you get a spare moment... hec it's Monday what else you gonna do?

Adopt An African

2006-11-19T21:53:00.000+02:00

It's entirely possible I had too much time on my hands this weekend... Anyhow I decided to create a site for locals to put themselves up for adoption by global mega stars: ADOPT AN AFRICAN. If you would like to take part email at dan (at) totalmedia.co.za with a pic and answers to the standard questions (found on the site). Please don't tell Madonna i'm actually from Hertfordshire...

Rad new Extreme Hotel launches in Cape Town

2006-11-19T21:14:00.000+02:00

Whilst I have a bit of a problem with the word "Extreme" (it's such a frickin nineties snowboardin twat kind of a word) I'm quite tickled by a story in The Weekend Argus on Cape Town's new Extreme Hotel. In an unlikely move dull-as-ditch water hotel chain Protea has created a hotel aimed at "extreme sports enthusiasts". There is a whole bunch of quirky features to keep even the shortest of Gen Y attention spans amused, such as a climbing wall on the outside of the building, a swimming pool that doubles as an aquarium for diners, shark cage style lifts and a smoking room with coffins for seats. Shame none of their promotional shots on their rather sparse website really captures any of this...

Design Indaba 2007

2006-11-15T23:46:00.000+02:00

The next Design Indaba sounds splendid - with two of my heroes booked (Brian Eno and David Lachapelle). This via bizcom "Expect to see presentations from designers at the vanguard of their respective fields - Daljit Singh, creative director and founder of leading interactive design company in the UK, Digit; music producer Brian Eno; and Dutch design company Droog partner Jurgen Bey. Also on the programme is multi award-winning photographer David Lachapelle, who began his career working for Andy Warhol."

Fad 3.0

2006-11-15T22:41:00.000+02:00

Ok, so we're all agreed that web 2.0 is all a big fad then. However web 3.0 is the real deal and we're all gonna be millionaires. Where do I buy shares? According to the NY Times 3.0 is all about being guided to your desired information by smart super computing. Couldn't we rather just get some unemployed people and give them a notebook, a pencil and a living wage?

"Referred to as Web 3.0, the effort is in its infancy, and the very idea has given rise to skeptics who have called it an unobtainable vision. But the underlying technologies are rapidly gaining adherents, at big companies like I.B.M. and Google as well as small ones. Their projects often center on simple, practical uses, from producing vacation recommendations to predicting the next hit song.
But in the future, more powerful systems could act as personal advisers in areas as diverse as financial planning, with an intelligent system mapping out a retirement plan for a couple, for instance, or educational consulting, with the Web helping a high school student identify the right college.
The projects aimed at creating Web 3.0 all take advantage of increasingly powerful computers that can quickly and completely scour the Web." (via NYTimes)

Attack of the space chickens

2006-11-15T16:49:00.000+02:00

Ever wondered what happens when you have one of those completely impractical ideas in a brainstorm that everyone thinks sounds amazing but decide the client will never be daft enough to sign it off and then you sneak it into the presentation anyway just for a giggle? Looks like someone working for KFC found out when they slipped the giant Colonel space face into the deck

Can you sue a company for making us look like twats to the rest of the galaxy? (via bizcommunity)

Top Shop plays pass the parcel

2006-11-14T08:42:00.000+02:00

man I love this idea (via fashion psfk)

"In a few weeks' time users of topshop.com will be emailed an invitation to 'pass the parcel'. The online game entitles each person to unwrap one virtual layer of wrapping paper to reveal a prize (a discount, free items etc) before getting the chance to forward the 'parcel' to a friend. With the top prize being a year's supply of Topshop clothes."

The Guardian's Web 2.0 issue

2006-11-12T23:05:00.000+02:00

Whole bunch of web 2.0 related goodies to be found on The Guardian's site. Including features on Blogger, Flickr, Myspace, Technorati in fact all the new web heroes. Ah makes me nostalgic for the late nineties...

Bill Gates future gazes

2006-11-12T22:52:00.000+02:00

YouTube pah! Bill G is after something much more sci fi (from the Observer):

For Gates, the next revolution is not in the content of websites but the way we physically interact with computers, with keyboard and mouse giving way to speech, touch and mobility.
'The pace of innovation over these next 10 years will be much faster than what we have seen in the past,' he said. Innovations on display at the grandly named Brussels Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre include a mirror which can remember and display people who have looked in it, computers capable of examining and telling the difference between objects, and a smart surface on which documents, maps and videos can be manipulated by hand gestures.
'I'm just sitting here, pulling up the information, showing it to people, and there's no paperwork, there's no old information,' enthused Gates. 'I'm able to access all that information just through these hand gestures. Every desk, every meeting room table, will have that technology in it, you'll just take it for granted.'

I'll settle for a PC that can open Outlook in less than 30 seconds and affordable broadband myself.

Audi Joburg Fashion Week

2006-11-12T22:38:00.000+02:00

We've just stated working on the campaign for Audi Joburg Fashion Week. Should keep us from hanging out on street corners chewing matches for a month or two. This from our release:

"Leading international automotive brand, Audi, will become the headline sponsor of South Africa's first annual autumn/winter fashion week, taking place in Johannesburg from the 13th to 17th February 2007.The event, announced earlier this year, will run under the title Audi Joburg Fashion Week at Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton.The launch of this event closes a long-standing gap in the South African fashion calendar, giving the country's top established designers the opportunity to showcase autumn/winter collections at a major fashion week run to international standards.

The event will feature South Africa's foremost designers, including many that are representing the country abroad such as Gavin Rajah (showcasing for a second season at Paris Fashion Week Couture in January), Gideon (recently returned from London Fashion Week), KlukCGdT (showcasing at Russian Fashion Week in the new year) Craig Port and Paul van Zyl Couture (who have both recently returned from Acapulco Fashion).

Other leading designers will include Hip Hop, Gabi Rosenwerth for Rosenwerth, Sonwabile Ndamase for Vukani Collections, Fred Eboka for Eboka, Spero Villioti, Carducci, Warrick Gautier for Jenni Button and Hilton Weiner, Darkie, Lunar and Thomas Red."

Heroin Chic

2006-11-09T09:37:00.000+02:00

As an ex-East Londoner (uh the one in the UK) it's with some bitter irony that i've followed the spectacular rise of Pete Doherty as a global fashion icon. It seems the circle is now complete and the Hoxton guttersnipe has now launched his own fashion label. I was worried when I saw his name on trend presentations by a number of local retail clients (names withheld) now i truly despair. He is working with Manchester RocknRoll style label Gio-Goi. Meanwhile girlfriend Kate Moss is designing for Top Shop. Ah well I guess they need something to keep them busy...

Share Your Look

2006-11-06T08:35:00.000+02:00

Share Your Look is a new style themed community site that allows global fashionistas to upload a pic of their outfit (being Monday morning I decided against sharing my current one which i'm describing as "dishevelled"). Also allows you to build a "style-blog" and I suspect they have some cunning peer to peer ecommerce idea up their sleeves.

Google ad-revenue beating TV

2006-11-02T08:29:00.000+02:00

via Brand Republic

Google's UK ad revenue will overtake Channel 4's by the end of the year, according to the broadcaster's chief executive Andy Duncan.
The search giant, which acquired video-sharing site YouTube for $1.65bn (£884m) last month, will pull in around £900m of ad revenue in the UK by the end of the year according to Duncan, in comparison with Channel 4's estimated £800m.

Finding your MegaNiche

2006-11-02T08:10:00.000+02:00

Wired is always a good place to tank up on some new futuristic sounding buzz words. Mega Niche being the latest one i've picked up. It comes from an interesting article about how the Internet is enabling content that in the old media world would be considered ridculously niche to gain significant audiences (million +) online. It's an interesting thought. Certainly most of the sites I visit are very specific to the interests I follow rather than more general portals.

The Purple List

2006-11-02T08:00:00.000+02:00

The ever wonderful PSFK have recently launched a worldwide events listing page, The Purple List. Aimed at the kind of people that regularly visit PSFK (ad execs, trendspotters, assorted hipster consultants) I think its a nice source for event ideas and generally seeing what's going on out there.

The World

2006-11-01T21:53:00.000+02:00

Whilst flicking through a copy of Tank magazine I came across an article on Dubai (the arab Vegas as they're calling it these days) that mentions The World. Reminds me of those inebriated ideas you come up with at 2am that everyone agrees is complete genius and never happens. Obviously same thing happened in Dubai but with the booze and with gazillions of oil dollars to back it up with. The World is a world shape series (uhm not to scale of course) of man-made islands being constructed off the coast of Dubai. Cuts down on those difficult where to go to this year holiday conversations I suppose.

The Popular Front is away

2006-11-01T21:30:00.000+02:00

Instead of being at his desk, The Popular Front has been hit by some strange tropical disease (or flu). Haven't achieved much other than the following:
1: paranoia that the chicken I teased at the Balkanology party last Friday gave me bird flu
2: the completion of the biography of the late John Peel (RIP)
3: the realisation that the Travel and Food channels can lose their appeal
4: the contemplation that the the History channel is strangely fascinating at times
5: the finishing of assorted magazines (including classic GQ article about how Myspace will help you get laid more often.. pfffhh this is why i read Marie Claire instead!)
6: a curious observation that my doctor has a manuscript for a novel on his desk. Couldn't read more than the name Betsy, somewhere in the first couple of lines... intriguing

No doubt this is of no interest to you whatsoever.

Busted!

2006-10-27T10:09:00.000+02:00

Our fashion patrol swung into action early this morning. We were shocked and appalled at the state of Capetonian style at the bottom of Kloof and Orange. Take that perp!!!!

Fashion Violation

2006-10-26T13:40:00.000+02:00

Have been itching to do a campaign like this for a while. From tomorrow we'll have chicks in catsuits out on the streets of Cape Town issuing these to badly dressed people. All part of a fashion festival we've helped put together for Cavendish Square.

The Mickey Munden empire expands

2006-10-25T16:54:00.000+02:00

Mickey's t-shirts are apparently selling like hotcakes these days... Stockists now include Big Blue, Carnival and Scar. And he looks good in a frock. Does this puppy have it all or what?

Undersound

2006-10-24T08:18:00.000+02:00

Via PSFK (and a whole bunch of other blogs). Alot of London stories floating around at the moment... sorry about that. Anyway this is a cool idea (whether we'll see it in action is another thing). A bunch of boffins have plans to build a music network on to the tube system which allows users to upload and download tracks/audio files as they travel around the city. The project is called Undersound. Nice idea, the lack of any public transport system whatsoever in South Africa might prove to be a local hinderance. hum.

New Wave of New Rave

2006-10-24T07:33:00.000+02:00

My clubland spies in the UK are reporting a rather dubious sounding rave revival hitting town led by bands such as the Klaxons, Shit Disco and New Young Pony Club. Ironically its about 18 years since Rave first appeared, which is just about long enough for a generation that's not experienced the real thing to emerge and re-invent it (see the new wave revival). Lets face it ravers, in hindsight, weren't exactly the most sartorially informed youth subculture ever and most people involved at the time deny being that into it. Doubts that the new rave movement was started by a bunch of indie bands that couldn't get gigs without a media endorsed bandwagon are yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile in the London fashion scene there are disturbing signs that it might make a cross over - get your kit here.

The wee people

2006-10-22T13:36:00.000+02:00

I've commented before that Londoners may have too much time on their hands to think up stuff like this... The latest post-modern art pranks to hit the big grime is the little people art project. Visit the site for lots more... a winner!

Last Night's Party

2006-10-22T08:34:00.000+02:00

Nope nothing to do with my social life but if you wanted to know what the kids were wearing in New York last night visit Last night's party . The site is a photo blog from the states that has been picking up a good, or is that rather infamous, reputation for capturing New York's party kids at play. Luckily, unlike my experience of nightlife, every party is full of happy, well-dressed, beautiful people.

The truth about ipods

2006-10-17T19:13:00.000+02:00

Hmm for such a sexy product the story behind the ipod is a lot duller than you'd expect. Wired have an interesting article looking back at the development of the must-have gadget of the noughties. I half expected for it to have come rising from the lake in the hand of a arthurian maiden whilst Steve Jobs was out walking one day. The truth is slightly more pedestrian maybe.

Fashion goes La La

2006-10-17T18:39:00.000+02:00

La la land gets it's turn on the fashion week carousel this week: the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week squeals into town. Whilst cynics might dismiss it as a glorified shopping outing for Paris Hilton, many argue that its the LAs schlebs behind the wheel of fashion these days. Although i'm not sure how much credibility the LA Times is helping with by describing the "hottest ticket" as the launch of Justin Timberlake's new fashion line "William Rast" (which isn't on the official schedule). I can just picture him in the back of tour bus figuring playing with patterns and a pair of scissors! Just in case you're still interested you can follow it here.

Obey Giant

2006-10-15T19:46:00.000+02:00

I've been a fan of Obey Giant for a while but hadn't realised that it/they/he had a cool website. Obey Giant started off, as far as I know, as global street poster campaign that merged an obsession with Andre the Giant and communist-era propganda design. It was kind of like an ultra-hip advertising campaign for a product that doesn't exist. Like the work of Banksy it combines a sharp and subversive sense of humour with some serious design skills. It's worth a look round the Obey Giant site just to check out the work but you can also buy posters online which is tempting despite the pitiful state of the Rand at the moment. sigh.

Flash clubbing hits London's Liverpool Street station

2006-10-15T16:46:00.000+02:00

I've always been suspicious that the kids back home had too much time on their hands. Whilst previous generations have taken to the street to protest against Fascism, Nuclear Weapons and Bypasses through Sussex, the latest "hilarious" hi-jinxs of London's urban youth involve descending on a location armed with an ipods for a mobile clubbing session. Just another example of technology empowering people to carry out completely pointless activities in new and random ways! Kerrrazzzy

Up the Balkans!

2006-10-15T16:13:00.000+02:00

The Balkans sadly have a bit of an image problem as a hotbed of trigger happy loons that started World War 1* and a civil war in the last century. Happily the tide of popular opinion is turning and the world is starting to learn the true nature of the Balkan folk as the no 1 party people on the planet. Doing their own bit for the cause are the guys behind Balkanolgy: South Africa's largest (and only) Balkan party. They promise us a heady blend of Balkan beats, goats, tubas, clairvoyants, real life farmers and the chance to win a Baby Transkei Dwarf Pig. Takes place at the Tafelberg Tavern, Hope Street on Friday October 27th. Top marks for complete randomness it'll probably be huge!

* a bold statement of dubious historial accuracy

Cafe Creme is the new Apple Cinnamon!

2006-10-12T12:58:00.000+02:00

Via Fashion.psfk: Start planning your Spring 07 wardrobe now! the Pantone institute have delivered the word on the forthcoming seasons palette after rigourous analysis of the catwalk trends at New York Fashion Week. And they should know they invented colours! Basically you do not want to be getting off the plane at NYC without having read this... Get it here.

Unwired Magazine to launch in November

2006-10-12T08:28:00.000+02:00

Continuing in the Wired theme. ITWeb is launching an imaginatively titled consumer tech magazine called Unwired in November according to BizCommunity. This is what they say about it:

"Unwired will address all digital lifestyle aspects applicable to the growing number of people in the 18 and 38 age group, who have enthusiastically taken up applications like instant messaging, pod casting, blogging and voice over Internet. They are at the cutting edge of technology and influence product development, features, work styles and trends. The magazine will provide for consumers' digital lifestyle needs and will give marketers new, one of a kind access to this influential group of people."

To infinity and beyond

2006-10-12T07:48:00.000+02:00

Coolhunting's latest video visit's Wired Magazine's NextFest in New York. It features the wide-eyed edtor of the magazine doing a quick walkthrough of the techno-fair. Reminds me of a rule we had back in London that you can measure how cool an event is by the number of Japanese kids down the front. This is pretty damn cool. Features some slight scary looking chic-bots, a door that morphs to your body size and the future rulers of the universeVirgin Galactic.

Oops

2006-10-11T08:19:00.000+02:00

Ok nothing to do with PR whatsoever... this little pic was snapped in the street next to ours at the weekend and demonstrates how local residents are dealing with the limited parking space in Tamboerskloof....

Bet you didn't know that Tamboerskloof has its own web portal. Fascinating stuff.

Dubious fashion brand link-up of the day

2006-10-11T08:02:00.000+02:00

I have to admire Stella's straight face as she talks about designing a current account card for private bank Coutts & Co. I'm all for linking designers with brands (in a clever way) but occasionally I think some of these deals are a bridge too far. For example the Julien Macdonald deoderant for Sure that appeared on my desk a while back (although it is wonderful to tell people that i'm wearing Julien Macdonald on my pits). Call me a jaded cynic but I am a bit dubious over whether Stella actually went anywhere near the design for the card. What next Alexander McQueen's personal pension scheme? Tom Ford's mortgage plan? Pur-lease!

From Vogue: NOW that's shopping in style. Private bank Coutts & Co has commissioned Stella McCartney to design its latest current account card – following a design for the Coutts World super premium card by Ozwald Boateng in 2004. The design, we're told "combines the intricacies found on banknotes and on the Coutts cheque book with aspects of the British countryside". A translucent Coutts signature can also been seen when the card is held up to the light - in a reference to the watermark on a banknote. "It was refreshing to be asked by Coutts to design something I have never done before," said Stella. "It is a design area that has been overlooked in the past and it's about time you get to spend your hard earned money with an account card that looks good!" Sarah Deaves, chief executive of Coutts & Co, is clearly thrilled with the new appointment, too. "We are very excited to be working with Stella McCartney who has brought imagination and creativity to a key component of our current account," she said. "The new card has been designed to complement our "famous" Coutts cheque book – we hope that our clients will enjoy using it!"

Pervepaper

2006-10-10T07:38:00.000+02:00

Back in the day wallpaper used to be such an everyday kind of word... about up there on the richter scale of excitement with watching paint dry and waiting for kettles to boil. These days you're probably talking about some fancy-schmancy coffee table magazine or this kind of thing: a new wallpaper brand Paper Voyeur. The boys at Ded (possibly Sheffield's greatest design agency) have come up with some great hipster wallpaper - with a tasteful erotic twist. Just the kind of stuff you'll love if you've just opened up an upmarket lingerie boutique or have an understanding girlfriend. And to think these guys used to make those Bored of the Beckhams t-shirts - they've leapt from Heat to Elle Decoration in a single bound.

What to wear to Paris Fashion Week

2006-10-09T08:04:00.000+02:00

I get it, a cross between the kids from fame and a 2003 Hoxton slutette... how chic

From Fashion Wire Daily

If you happen to be wearing leggings in Paris and you're attending a fashion show, you'll probably have your picture taken. I've never seen a trend that's so overdone and omnipresent get this much attention from the fashion crowd, who are supposed to be trendsetters and not trend followers... It's a silhouette, however, that admittedly does look great with the super clunky, wicked platform shoes or ankle boots that are also big in Paris this week. Add to that poofy skirts and short cropped jackets and messy I-can't-be-bothered hair, preferably dirty blonde, and you've got the Paris fashion week look in the bag.

The Neighbourhood Goods Market

2006-10-08T10:47:00.000+02:00

What If The World continue in their mission to make Cape Town a 30-something hipster paradise. And as loathe to cover something after the Cape Times has as I am The Neighbourhood Goods Market deserves a special mention. The market is in The Old Biscuit Factory in Woodstock. One is almost tempted to insinuate that the WITW boys are in league with the local estate agents in a wicked conspiracy to replace the current population of hoodlums, tick addicts and decent working class folk with magazine stylists, interior designers and couples that met at advertising agency drinks evenings. The area is recieving some serious gentrification (and associated house price creep) and The Neighbourhood Goods Market is possibly just the tipping point needed to turn the postcode into a Capetonian Yuppy paradise. As well as organic food, falafel stores, screenprinted t-shirts, kooky art exhibits and "I love boobies" baby grows, the market also wins bonus points over similar 1st world urban hipster hangouts, such as London's Spitalfields, with the ready availability of local wine (you can rent a glass to accompany you around the stands). Judging by the hordes of goofy-smiled urbanites after just a month in action, the Neighbourhood Goods Market is set to become a serious weekend institution!

Newsflash: PR is the devil's work

2006-10-08T10:01:00.000+02:00

Most PR agencies in SA do measure coverage achieved by how much the advertising space would cost. However only heard of one agency that thought it was a good idea to issue a press release to the media harping on how much free coverage they'd manage to hoodwink. I shall have to add it to my list of things not to do with my spare office time - rather colour code the sample rail or something more useful and less dangerous. Like everyone needs an excuse to hate PR's even more than they do already. Doh!

Almost as interesting is the amount of interest it stirred on an obscure corner of Moneyweb.

"Advertising value equivalency? Before passing the barf bag, remember that society gets the media it deserves. So when image peddlers openly boast of “PR credibility” without fear of ridicule, something is clearly amiss. If embedded allies are any yardstick, sections of South African media are even sicker than pessimists fear.' 100m worth of deception.

National Novel Writing Month

2006-10-05T13:53:00.000+02:00

If only I didn't have 3 gazillion press releases to write i'd probably enter. Top marks for Exclusive Books on Kloof Street for bringing this to my attention. The shop assistant deserves special bonus points for not only being the funkiest lookin chick in a kind of "whatulookinat" don't giveafrickindamn kind of way on Kloof but also commenting on my over-priced Dazed & Confused purchase "what's made of Gold or something?". Go Girl!

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and -- when the thing is done -- the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
In 2005, we had over 59,000 participants. Nearly 10,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

The Popular Front is Away

2006-10-05T12:01:00.000+02:00

Well not really true but he was on holiday... now he's back and got lots of work-type things to do before he gets round to updating me. pah...

Am I Collective

2006-09-14T13:14:00.000+02:00

The Am I collective are producing some nice design work. And worth a second look...

Iron Fist (again)

2006-09-14T13:01:00.000+02:00

Speaking of Iron Fist they are holding a graffiti exhibition with What If The World. Too Cool for school!

Art Decko 2

22 Sep - 13 Oct 2006

Opening: Friday 22 September @ 5.30pmwhat if the world... 373 Alert Rd. Woodstock

Iron Fist Art Decko is an initiative aimed at inspiring up and coming as well as recognized artists to create an art piece using a blank skateboard deck as a canvas. The initiative prides itself on giving artists a platform in which to further their goals as artists and gives them complete freedom of expression when creating their pieces. An interesting mix of artists from across the country have been invited to showcase their own unique style and to create their interpretation of a skateboard deck.

Invited Artists

KZN:Matt Waters Kim LonghurstScott RobertsonTrevor PaulLouis de VilleirsConanIan ìEwokî RobinsonLuke MolverWesley van EerdenDallas Davy

Gauteng:Kevin LoveGavin MorganFrank van RooijenBlack Koki (love+hate)Elbowgrease (love+hate)351073 (love+hate)Adrian DayJax PanicMarissa NoordegraafAndrew Butcher

Cape Town:Theory oneFaith 47Mak1oneJustin LovestickMatt EdwardsSenyolTyler MurphyMerwe le Roux (Am I Collective)Rudi de Wet (Am I Collective)Ruan Vermeulen (Am I Collective)Christo Basson (Am I Collective)Johan Kotze

A Brew by Any Other Name

2006-09-13T13:32:00.000+02:00

via brand channel spotted by Cherryflava

What’s in a name? For a growing number of players in the liquor industry, pretty much everything.
Increasingly crowded liquor and beer store shelves have prompted breweries and wineries around the world to rack their brains for unique and amusing—but most importantly, memorable—names for both their operations and the liquid in their bottles.
Sitting alongside traditional cabernets, merlots and sauvignons today are Fat Bastard and Wild Pig from France, Mad Dogs & Englishmen from Spain, Cat’s Pee on a Gooseberry Bush and Glamour Puss from New Zealand, and Dirty Laundry from Canada. Clearly, this isn’t your parents’ wine store.
The goal behind these seemingly ridiculous monikers is differentiation—get your product in the mouths of consumers for the first time because of the name and they’ll come back for the taste.
Al Bowness, manager of specialty purchasing at the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission in Winnipeg, says there is more wine being produced around the world today than at any other time in history. And thanks to modern technology, the vast majority of it is top-notch and very drinkable.
So, how do you distinguish yourself from the hundreds of other different bottles in your local wine shop? Grapes? Secret ingredients? Property in the south of France? Centuries-old recipes?
“It boils down to branding and marketing,” Bowness says.
Interesting names aren’t new to the liquor industry, he says—wine lovers from 20 and 30 years ago will remember Fuddle Duck, Gimli Goose, Strawberry Angel and Lonesome Charlie—but they’ve certainly exploded in number in the last few years.
Bernie Hadley-Beauregard, principal at Vancouver-based Brandever Strategy Inc., says it’s tradition in the wine industry to name your company after a geographical landmark or a visionary family member. That may seem meaningful to the owner as he’s standing in the middle of his vineyard but it does nothing for a consumer trying to buy a bottle for a dinner party that starts in half an hour.
“A great proportion of individuals can’t remember the name of the wine they had at dinner last night,” he says. “That’s evidence to me that the [traditional] naming protocol has surpassed its effectiveness.”
A wine’s name is particularly critical in restaurants, he adds, where customers can’t look at the label or hold the bottle in their hands—they can only read the name on the wine list.
“There’ll be ‘Something Creek’ and ‘Something Valley,’ and then you come across something like ‘Laughing Stock,’ ” Smith says. “It arrests the read. You think, ‘What’s this all about?’ ”
If the name is particularly intriguing, the server may chime in with his two cents about what is known of the wine’s story, he adds: “Then you’ve got value added. That makes it rise above the others.”
Cynthia Enns and her husband, David, who founded Laughing Stock Vineyards in British Columbia’s Okanogan Valley three-and-a-half-years ago, began as vintners making wine out of their garage. The Laughing Stock name originated from David’s goal of making wine tasty enough that people wouldn’t consider him an embarrassment to the neighborhood. When they paired it with their experience as consultants to the financial services industry, they knew they had a winner.
“We wake up every day trying not to live up to our name,” Cynthia Enns says. “We have a huge following in the investment industry. We’re being used in corporate gifting programs and client appreciation events. Everyone has invested in stocks or mutual funds, so the theme resonates with everybody.”
The label only adds to the brand. It features a ticker tape that goes around the bottle with stock quotes from the Standard & Poor’s 500 on the day the grapes used in the particular bottle were harvested.
“The bottle becomes a time capsule for the day we pick the grapes,” she says. “We thought the label needed to have some curiosity about it. You won’t clue in until you spend some time with it. In a restaurant, patrons at other tables will have bottle envy. They’ll be curious as to what wine you’re drinking because the bottle looks so cool.
“The wine industry is so subjective, the packaging means a lot. A lot of people will walk in to the wine store, see 500 selections and they'll pick by the label,” she continues.
To carry the investment branding further, Laughing Stock is sold in futures, just like pork bellies and orange juice.
“From a business point of view, we get the cash early. From a consumer point of view, they get a bottle of wine early that typically sells out within weeks of its release, [and they’re getting it] at a discount,” she says, noting its main wine is a Bordeaux blend. The tongue-in-cheek tone continues on Laughing Stock T-shirts that read, “Buy, hold and cellar” or ask, “How liquid are your assets?”
Crazy names are no stranger to the beer industry, either. Competing for your taste buds on hot summer days are beers such as Old Engine Oil from Harviestoun Brewery Ltd. in Scotland, Blithering Idiot beer from Weyerbacher Brewing Co. in Pennsylvania, Dragon’s Milk Oak Barrel Ale from New Holland Brewing Co. in Michigan, Stumblin’ Monk from AleSmith Brewing Co. in California, and La Fin du Monde (The End of the World) beer from Unibroue in Quebec, Canada.

Probably the most freshly minted brand in the Canadian beer industry belongs to Dead Frog Beer. Derrick Smith, CEO of what used to be called Backwoods Brewery until May, says the previous nine-year-old name wasn’t working for him.
“It wasn’t memorable enough. People would have our product, enjoy it, and two days later couldn’t remember the name of it. That made it very difficult to reorder in a different establishment,” he says.
If that wasn’t bad enough, trying to ask for a “Backwoods Brewing Timberwolf Pale Ale” after having already consumed a few got pretty tricky, Smith says. The brewery also makes a lager, honey brown and nut brown beer.
Now, with a catchy name and graphics and tap handles in the shape of big green frog legs, recognition of those same four beers is no longer a problem. “We have to compete against these companies that have millions of dollars to bang their brand into people’s heads,” Smith says. “We don’t have that kind of cash so we have to go for something that’s eye-catching and memorable.
“If people want to jump on the bandwagon because we're killing frogs, phone me up.” (During a serious moment, Smith is emphatic that no, repeat no, frogs were killed in the making of his beer.)
Smith, who studied how wine companies named their products, says a number of other potential names came out of brainstorming sessions—Wild Duck, Mad Duck, Salty Fog—but Dead Frog jumped to the front of the line.
“It’s catchy, distinctive, a bit risky and makes a bit of a statement,” he says. “It’s also a little controversial. People say, ‘Why would you name something after a dead frog?’ ” Smith adds that consumers are now coming for the name and staying for the beer. Sales are up 25 percent since the introduction of Dead Frog, a number Smith attributes entirely to the attraction of deceased amphibians.
T-shirt sales have gone through the roof as well. Smith says he used to sell the odd Backwoods shirt at a festival but now he’s being inundated with phone calls and emails. He can also employ catch phrases that he couldn’t have previously, such as “Nothing goes down like a cold, dead frog,” “My pad or yours?,” “There’s more hops in a dead frog” or “Do it froggy-style.”
The attitude continues on the Dead Frog web page. Depending where you are on the site, a cartoon frog gets mowed down by a truck, riddled with machine gun bullets, felled by an anvil or whacked by a hockey puck.
To ensure a smooth transfer of the brand, Smith and his people went to their accounts in advance and told them about Dead Frog.
“We haven’t lost a single customer because of the name change,” he says. “A few were a little tentative at first. A lot of customers wouldn’t necessarily identify Dead Frog with Backwoods so we made sure the serving staff knew and they could tell customers they could still get their favorite Backwoods beer as a Dead Frog.”
Hadley-Beauregard says a brewery’s rebranding is the perfect opportunity to be more daring.
“My motto for small players has always been: Safe is dangerous and dangerous is safe when it comes to naming,” he says. “The shelves are absolutely saturated. The winner will be the one who comes up with a clever name with a story behind it to propagate the name.”

New York Fashion Week

2006-09-13T09:42:00.000+02:00

Another day, another fashion week. This one's in New York. Vogue have lots of videos and photos and stuff which you can download to your ipod.

Gone Surfing

2006-09-12T11:25:00.000+02:00

Simple but kind of cute. Total Media made these lil fellas for the Online Publishers Association's sponsorship of the Loerie Awards. Distributed in goodie bags alongside no doubt lots of branded beach towels/balls/pens etc. We hope to see these on web-slinging ad agency doors in near future...

Label of the week

2006-09-12T09:56:00.000+02:00

This month I shall mainly be wearing Iron Fist. From what I can tell they are a Califorinian based label with (assume new) distribution in South Africa. However they don't get around to telling us to much about it. This is pretty much the only explanation. Which is actually rather cute:

“If Quentin Tarantino and Nina Hagen had a love child and it was give up for adoption, raised by wolves in the wilderness and spent the rest of its miserable childhood in a Catholic monastery in the dark depths of Mexico City with only a skateboard and a Black Flag record for companionship then its name would be none other than… Iron Fist”.

MTV Flux: Consumer Generated

2006-09-12T09:46:00.000+02:00

Via Random Culture:

In the UK, MTV has embraced user generated content with the launch of MTV Flux, a channel built on video submissions from viewers. All submissions are voted on by the viewing audience, with the highest rated content getting on the air. They've dubbed the latest content submission contest "killer filler", and are giving select winners free Adobe software.

Artists think outside the box with first-class graffiti

2006-09-12T09:33:00.000+02:00

From the times (thanks to PSFK):

FOR the mysterious gang of street artists wielding their paintbrushes under the cover of darkness, it was a first-class piece of work.
However, Royal Mail chiefs in Norwich were less than impressed when they discovered that scores of iconic red letterboxes had been repainted in a spectrum of colours.
Thanks to the guerrilla rebranding, a property hotspot known locally as the “golden triangle” now boasts pillar boxes in blue, yellow and, in one particularly affluent district, gold.
In another neighbourhood a 3ft question mark was painted on the pavement near a mailbox.
The postal service was unhappy about the estimated £1,000 bill to return the postboxes to their traditional hue, but residents seemed quite pleased with the new splash of colour on their streets.
One resident suggested that the prank could have been the work of undergraduates from the University of East Anglia, who have recently returned for a new term. “There are quite a few students living in the area in rented houses and it wouldn’t surprise me if they’d painted the post boxes as a bit of a prank,” he said.
“Whoever it is had done a pretty thorough job.
“I don’t care what colour the postboxes are they are as long as they deliver the mail on time.”
Another resident, David Kent, 56, said: “For what I suppose has to be counted as vandalism, they’re actually looking quite smart. The pleasing thing is that they’ve done a good job, not covering up the information or making a mess of the pavement. It’s certainly not an eyesore.
“These postboxes were looking a bit shabby. Not only do they look a lot smarter now, but no doubt Royal Mail will quickly be coming out to repaint them.”
A spokesman for Royal Mail said: “This very regrettable criminal damage and costs a considerable amount of money to put right. Fortunately this doesn’t happen very often and we’re working with the police to catch those responsible.”
Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.